Method of punching matrices



Dec. 2, 1930.

R. FREUND METHOD OF PUNCHING MATRICES Filed Sept. 18, 1929 Patented Dec. 2, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HERMAN B. FREUND, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO INTER'IYPE CORYORA- TION, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A. CORPORATION OF NEW YORK mnrnon or runcnriwe mrnrcns Application filed September 18, 1929. Serial No. 393,560.

The present invention relates to the art of punching matrices and more especially to the punching of the type-forming characters in matrices of the kind used in line casting machines of the general class shown and described in U. S. Letters Patent No. 432,536 granted September '16, 1890, to O. Mergenthaler, wherein matrices are selectively delivered from a magazine and assembled with their flat sides in contact to form a line from which a type bar type bar or slug will have formed along an edge thereof type characters which are counterparts of type-forming characters in the matrices. Y

The matrices commonly used in machines of this class each have a type-forming character punched in intaglio in an edge thereof, each matrix being only slightly thicker than the width of the respective character therein so that the sides of each character are separated from the respective sides of the matrix body by relatively thin walls. In making such matrices by the method heretofore used generally, these relatively thin walls at the sides ofthe type-forming character become bent inwardly during the milling or finishing of the flat sides of the matrix body, and since such inwardly bent portions overhang the type-forming character so that they would interfere with the withdrawal of the type character cast therein, such inwardly bent portions must be bent outwardly or restored to proper form and position and the adjacent portions of the flat sides of the matrix body must be refinished, but such operations require great care and are expensive, and in some instances they result in damaging the matrix so that it is useless and must be discarded.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved method of and means for punching matrices of this class whereby the type-forming char- 4 acters may be punched in the edges of the or slug is cast so that the matrices in a manner which eliminates the labor and cost of restoring the inwardly bent side walls as practiced in conjunction with the matrix producing method heretofore used, the present invention enabling the thin side walls as well as the rest of the walls defimng the character forming cavity to be produced in final finished form by punching.

In the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a matrix of the class to which the present invention is applicable;

Figs. 2 and 3 are enlarged perspective views of character-forming punches of the kind heretofore used in punching the typeforming characters in such matrices;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of the punching means used in punching the type-forming characters in matrices;

Fig. 5 represents a section taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4, showing the manner in which the thin side walls which separate the sides of the type-forming character and the sides of the matrix body become bent outwardly during the punching of matrices by the method heretofore used;

Fig. 6 represents a transverse section through a matrix after being punched in the manner shown in Fig. 5, illustrating the thin outwardly bent side walls of the matrix cavity; i

. Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6, illustrating how these thin side walls of the matrix cavity becomeabent inwardly during the milling or finishing of the flat sides of the matrix body.

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Figs. 6 and 7, illustrating the matrix after the inwardly bent side walls of the matrix cavity have been bent outwardly or restored to proper position; I

Figs. 9 and 10 are enlarged perspective views of character forming punches used in carrying out the present invention;

Fig. 11 is a diagrammatic view showing a punch such as shown in Fig. 9 or Fig. 10 in cooperation with dies whereby the-side walls of the character-forming cavity in the matrix is formed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 12 represents a cross section through the character-bearin portion of the matrix immediately after tlie punching operation shown in Fig. 11 has been completed; and

Fig. 13 is a similar View but showing the form and osition of the side walls of the characterorming cavity after the fiat sides of the matrix have been milled or otherwise finished.

Matrices of the class to which the present invention is applicable each comprise a matrix body M having a type-formin cavity m in intaglio in an edge thereof, the Eat sides of each matrix having accurately finished flat surfaces 122. which must fit tightly against similar surfaces on adjacent matrlces when the matrices are formed in a line for the casting of a type bar or slug therefrom in order to prevent leakage of the molten metal between the matrices. Matrices of this class also usually have lugs or ears m at their upper and lower corners for guiding the matriees while circulating through the machine and for alining the matrices therein during the casting operation, and such matrices are also usually formed in their upper ends with a notch which is provided with teeth m for punched, the inner sides supporting the matrices while traversing the distributor which returns the matrices to their proper channels in the magazine in which they are stored. lVhen a line,0f such matrices is presented to the mold for the casting of a type bar or slug therefrom, the type forming characters m in the edges of the matrices are alined and opposite to the slot in the mold in which the type bar or slug is cast, so that the type bar or slug, when cast, will have a type-bearing edge thereon made up of characters which are counterparts of the type forming characters in the matrices, as will be understood from the patent hereinbefore referred to.

The type-forming characters in matrices of this class have been heretofore produced by placing the matrix edgewise on an anvil 1 and clamping it between a pair of dies 2 which confined the flat sides of the matrix body adjacent to the edge of the matrix in which the type-forming character is to be of the dies being formed with recesses 3 into which the metal may bulge during the character punchin operation and the inner walls of the dies a ove these recesses beingflared or tapered as at 4, a punch 5 having a character-bearing portion 6 being forced into the edge of the matrix held between the dies and thereby punching such character in intaglio into the edge of the matrix. The character-bearing portion 6 of the punch is usually conical or tapered in on the flat sides of the matrix form, and the metal, usually brass, of which the matrix is composed, being free to flow between the conieal sides of the character bearing portion 6 of the punch and the flared walls 4 of the dies and forming relatively thin outwardly bent walls m WhlCh separate the sides of the matrix cavity from the fiat sides of the matrix. Bulges m are also formed during the punching operation by the flow of the metal into the recesses 3 in the inner faces of the dies, as shown in Fig. 6. A matrix punched in that manner, after re moval from the dies, is milled off at its opposite flat sides to remove the bulges m and to bring the flat sides of the matrix into true parallelism, but during the milling operation, the relatively thin outwardly bent walls 121* become bent inwardly, due to the insufiicient resistance which they offer to the milling cutter, and these inwardly bent thin walls overhang the sides of the cavity which forms the character in the matrix, as shown in Fig. 7, and since such overhanging side walls would interfere with the withdrawal of a type character cast in such cavity, these inwardly bent walls must be picked or bent outwardly to their original conical shape as shown in Fig. 8, and this picking or outward bending of these thin walls m produces burrs which must be carefully removed in order to insure metaltight fit between the flat sides of the matrices when formed in a line for casting the type bar or slug therefrom. The operations of picking or bending outwardly the relatively thin side walls which separate the sides of the character-forming cavity and the flat sides of the matrix and of removing burrs formed on the flat sides of the matrices as the result of bending outwardly these thin side walls as heretofore practiced in punching of matrices in accordance with the usual method, are laborious and require great care and involve much expense, and moreover, they result in some instances in damage to the matrix which renders it useless and requires it to be discarded.

In punching the characters in matrices in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the character-bearing portion of the punch, instead of being regularly tapered or conical, as in the punches heretofore used, is provided at its sides with enlargements which form shoulders 6 which enter the flared portions 4 of the dies and act upon the brass or metal composing the matrix to depress and impart the final form to the walls m which separate the sides of the character-forming cavity from the flat sides of the matrix, the shoulders 6 being set back from the tip or face of the character-bearing portion of the punch. These shoulders for example are shown applied to the opposite sides of a rounded character-bearing portion on the punch shown in Fig. 9 and to the side edges of a differently formed character-bearing portion on the punch shown in Fig. 10, but in each instance, these shoulders on the punch will be in positions to engage and act on the walls which separate the sides of the character-forming cavity from the respective sides of the matnx body and to depress and impart the-final shape to these walls. The punches for some characters, due to the shapes or position of such characters on the punches, will require a shoulder 6 at one side only of the character bearing portion instead of at both or opposite sides thereof, the single shoulder acting to depress the upstanding thin side wall of the matrix in the same manner that each of the shoulders at opposite sides of the character bearing portion of the punch act to depress the IGSEGCUVG side walls of the matrix as described a ove.

The matrix after being punched in the manner shown in Fig. 11, is removed from the dies, it then being in the form shown in Fig.

12, and the flat sides of the matrix are milled or otherwise finished in final form, the bulges m and the tips of the walls m being thus removed, and the walls m will be left, in the finished matrix, as shown in Fig. 13.

thus depressing the upper edges of the side walls which separate the character-forming cavity from the flat'sides of the matrix, by the formative shoulders 6, these walls m, receive their final shape and the formation of frail thin walls which would become bent inwardly during the milling of the sides of the matrix and would require reshaping of these walls and milling or refinishing of the sides of the matrix to remove the burrs incident to the reshapin of the thin walls are avoided, since the si e walls between the characterforming cavity and the sides of the matrix, according to the present invention, are 'depressed and given their final form by the character-punching operation, and these walls will not be bent inwardly or otherwise distorted b the milling or finishing of the flat sides 0 the matrix, these side walls produced by the improved punching operation pressing the edges of the walls between the I sides of such cavity and the sides of the matrix.

3. A punch for unching a character forming cavity in the e ge and between the sides of a matrix, comprisin a character bearing portion having a shoul er set back from the face thereof at at least one of its extreme sides which is to punch the portion of the cavity nearest the respective side ofthe matrix.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set m hand.

y HERMAN R. FBEUND.

being shorter in height and hence stronger than the side walls produced by the previously used punching operation so that they will not cave in during the milling operation which trues the flat sides of the matrix after the character punching operation has been completed. v

I claim as my invention 1. The method of punchinfila characterforming cavity in a matrix w ch comprises impressing the character-forming cavity in the edge of the matrix and depressing the upstanding wall which separates a side of the cavity from a side of the matrix.

2. The method of punchi a characterforming cavity in a matrix w ich com rises impressing the character-forming cavity in the edge of the matrix and concurrently de- 

